Large Animal Internship

Interested applicants should apply through the American
Association of Veterinary Clinicians matching program. The website
is www.virmp.org . Our
internship program is rotating in nature, meaning our interns will
participate in both equine and food animal, medicine, surgery,
equine lameness, and emergency rotations. In general, our interns
spend about 60-65% of their time in equine, 30% in food animal and
5-10% of the time in an area of their choosing. Interns are
assigned to a senior clinician's service rotation for 4 week blocks
of time on a rotating basis. Some times there will also be a
resident assigned to the service in addition to the intern. Most
service groups will have 2 to 4 students per block (student blocks
are 2 weeks). Interns only have "in house" responsibilities,
meaning they do not go out on farm calls or get assigned to the
theriogenology or ambulatory groups. When scheduling permits,
interns may request a 4-week optional block where they can elect to
spend time in theriogenology, community practice, or ambulatory
(field service) clinicians that do either general equine or food
animal farm calls.

Our caseload is approximately 65-70% equine and 30-35% food
animals. The predominance of the horses are Quarter Horses used for
western performance (roping, reining, barrel racing, pleasure),
some racing Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, some hunter/jumper
and dressage types, and the rest composed of a variety of other
breeds and performance type horses. Beef cattle and meat goats
predominate in food animal, but we do see a few sheep and pigs on
occasion. We see few dairy cattle, with the only dairy in the area
the university dairy.

Interns get a large volume of hands-on experience, especially
during after hour emergencies. Interns are only responsible for
"in-house" emergencies. They do not go out and do any "on farm"
emergencies. The emergency case load is approximately 70% equine
and 30% food animal. Equine emergencies are going to be about
80-90% referrals and 10-20% local clients. Food animal emergencies
are going to be about half local and half referral clients. Interns
share in the after hour emergency duty responsibilities equally.
Each one will be "on call" one-half of the time (i.e. one week of
every two, every other weekend). There are always medicine and
surgery residents and senior faculty available for consultation and
case involvement. Interns and residents take primary call where
they answer phone calls from referring veterinarians and clients,
receive emergency cases, and do the initial work up. During a week
on call, the intern has 3 nights of "primary" on call
responsibility, 2 nights of being back up or "second call"
responsibilities, and 2 nights of being on "third call". Interns
are called in to assist with all surgeries regardless of whether
the intern is on primary, secondary, or tertiary call. We believe
strongly in our program being a teaching/training program, so there
are always an internal medicine and surgery faculty member on call
to assist interns and residents. Our interns consult with the
medicine or surgery resident on call, and the senior faculty
members before making decisions about how a case should be managed
and before discussing specific options with the client. The same is
expected of our residents. The interns are assisted by residents
and senior faculty from the time of admission until a treatment
plan is generated, especially early in the internship year. We want
to allow our interns and residents to gain experience, but under
the auspices of our clients and patients receiving the best
possible care we have to offer. We feel strongly that working with
residents and senior faculty only serves to enhance the intern's
learning, while providing our clients and patients with the best
possible care.

Completion of this internship allows our interns to pursue
further advanced training (i.e. residency training) or to become a
responsible part of a quality private veterinary practice. Interns
are encouraged to publish case reports or become involved in a
research project during there internship year, and participate in
giving seminars and lectures to both small and large groups of
students, faculty, and veterinarians.